


Without Weeping

by hunters_retreat



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-03
Updated: 2009-10-03
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:00:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5364056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wondered, for a moment, if mankind could throw such a man into hell without weeping, if they really deserved to be saved after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Weeping

 

When the order came, he knew it for the honor that it was. It wouldn't be easy, but it was an honor none the less. The creature he needed to get would not want to leave Hell, would not understand the error of his ways or the glory that was being given to him, but Castiel would do as ordered. He would save the once righteous man before he spilled blood. He would deliver the man to Earth, and if they weren't able to get to him in time, he would become his guardian of sorts, hoping that he would hold the key to stopping the end of days.

 

 

He wondered about the order because something of that magnitude should have included more than just a few angels but he didn't question. The humans had a saying, "The lord works in mysterious ways" and Castiel had always found it one of the most profound things they had come to believe. It was no less true because he was an angel, a creature created and blessed by the existence of the almighty.

 

 

Hell was not happy to see him. It was not used to angelic light and in it's twisted desire to emulate, everything danced with the wicked orange-red of flame as opposed to the pure white light of the divine. Heat filled his senses as did the sulphur and screams. His brethren fought along side him, pushing aside demon after demon until they could find their target.

 

 

Castiel could see the blood coating him, could see the way pain and humiliation hung on him like the clothes the humans wore to hide their shame. Even more he could see the blood that didn't belong to him. He knew they were too late, that the first seal had been broken. His brethren raged against the discovery but Castiel secretly wondered how this creature could become so far broken before they had been sent to save him.

 

 

He touched his hand to flesh and felt the binding within, felt the unraveling of soul and heart and gasped with the beauty of it. The humans believed in many things, fate and pre-determination, some in free choice but he'd never understood the power of it until now. The seals would not fall for a broken thing falling to torture another broken thing. It was the willing choice of a good man, the willing choice of a righteous man. He had always thought the words mocking until now.

 

 

The man before him was righteous indeed. He had willingly and knowing sacrificed himself time and time again for those who loved him, those he loved. He had also sacrificed himself for those he didn't, for people who didn't know what he'd done and people who would never thank him. He partook of life as if it were fading around him every day and he threw himself into the battle between heaven and hell without ever understanding the true nature of the battle fought.

 

 

Dean Winchester was a thing of beauty. Dean Winchester's soul was so broken, so beautifully wrapped around family and sacrifice and a lack of self, that it was enough to make an angel weep.

 

 

Castiel stared at Dean Winchester for the first time, his hand burning his own mark into flesh and he wondered, for a moment, if mankind could throw such a man into hell without weeping, if they really deserved to be saved after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Renegade Angel exchange over at [](http://deancastiel.livejournal.com/profile)[deancastiel](http://deancastiel.livejournal.com/) for [](http://catalinacat.livejournal.com/profile)[catalinacat](http://catalinacat.livejournal.com/) . The prompts was "Castiel has to go through a lot in Hell to get to Dean. He has doubts that Dean is worth it until he finds him by Alistair's rack and sees that Dean's soul is still good even after all the years in Hell."


End file.
